Penn State cruises past Texas A&M for first March Madness win since 2001
The Penn State men's basketball program made a statement in its first NCAA Tournament appearance in over a decade. The No 10 seeded Nittany Lions used a huge first-half performance to down the No. 7 seed Texas A&M Aggies.
Andrew Funk was fire from beyond the arc, making 8-of-10 three-point attempts and totaling 27 points while Jalen Pickett had 19 of his own as Penn State dominated Texas A&M en route to a win in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
Over the first 10 minutes of the first half, it was a close back-and-forth affair between the two teams. Down 12-11 out of a tv timeout with 11:56 remaining, the Nittany Lions would take the lead on their ensuing possession on a Jalen Pickett jumper to make it 13-12. From that point, on the Nittany Lions would never relinquish the lead.
After a few minutes of no scoring between the two teams, a Seth Lundy three-pointer with 8:44 left in the first half made it a 16-12 game, and the floodgates would open from there. After that three-pointer, the Nittany Lions would go on a 25-10 run for the remainder of the first half, knocking down seven of their last 10 shots in the first half while also adding five points from the line. They would head into halftime up with a 38-22 lead.
The second half was a much closer game between the two teams, with Penn State outscoring Texas A&M. In the final 20 minutes, the Nittany Lions would get out to as big as a 24-point lead, and the Aggies would look to chip away at the lead but never found enough consistency to battle back in the game. On the other end of the court, the Nittany Lions made 15-of-31 shots including 7-of-13 shots from deep.
With their win, the Nittany Lions will move onto the Round of 32 for the first time since 2001. They'll take on the Texas Longhorns who defeated No. 15 Colgate on Thursday night 81-61. A tipoff time for Saturday's matchup has yet to be announced.
| STAT | PENN STATE | TEXAS A&M |
|---|---|---|
|
POINTS |
76 |
59 |
|
FIELD GOAL (%) |
27-56 (48.2%) |
20-59 (33.9%) |
|
3PT (%) |
13-22 (59.1%) |
10-34 (29.4%) |
|
FT (%) |
9-11 (81.8%) |
9-12 (75.0%) |
|
REBOUNDS |
32 |
36 |
|
ASSISTS |
14 |
9 |
|
STEALS |
5 |
3 |
|
BLOCKS |
1 |
2 |
|
TURNOVERS |
8 |
10 |
| STARTER / BENCH | PLAYER | PTS | REB | AST |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Starter |
G Cam Wynter |
2 |
3 |
3 |
|
Starter |
G Andrew Funk |
27 |
4 |
1 |
|
Starter |
G Jalen Pickett |
19 |
7 |
8 |
|
Starter |
G Seth Lundy |
10 |
3 |
0 |
|
Starter |
F Kebba Njie |
8 |
3 |
2 |
|
Bench |
G Myles Dread |
6 |
2 |
2 |
|
Bench |
G Kanye Clary |
2 |
0 |
1 |
|
Bench |
G Evan Mahaffey |
0 |
3 |
1 |
|
Bench |
F Michael Henn |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| STARTER / BENCH | PLAYER | PTS | REB | AST |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Starter |
G Tyrece Radford |
14 |
1 |
3 |
|
Starter |
G Dexter Dennis |
19 |
3 |
8 |
|
Starter |
G Wade Taylor IV |
10 |
3 |
1 |
|
Starter |
F Henry Coleman III |
2 |
7 |
1 |
|
Starter |
F Julis Marble |
8 |
1 |
0 |
|
Bench |
F Solomon Washington |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
Bench |
F Andersson Garcia |
3 |
9 |
1 |
|
Bench |
F Ethan Henderson |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Bench |
G Hayden Hefner |
3 |
1 |
1 |
|
Bench |
G Manny Obaseki |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Bench |
G Andre Gordon |
0 |
1 |
1 |
--------------------------------------------------------------
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel